And Still It Trembles
by falconer54
Summary: Movieverse. Why did Javert give Garvoche his medal? Rated for character death (in backstory) new chapter. Gavroche's death, based on the original musical
1. And Still it Trembles

Inspector Javert looks at the young, still figure of Gavroche. His hair is soaked with blood and with rain. His clear eyes, once full of life and vigor, are blank and empty, staring vacantly into space. Javert wishes that he could see the eyes move, if only in the accusatory glare that he wore when he revealed Javert's disguise. But his eyes stay unmoving and vacant, and a clear glassy glaze has formed over them.

_Liar!_

Javert looks down at the still figure. Javert is the law; why is he feeling compassion for one who broke it, and who revealed Javert's own disguise? But he does. Garvoche's voice fill's Javert's mind.

_Good evening, dear Inspector, lovely evening, my dear._

No. It wasn't a good evening. Not at all. Innocent lives were lost, and values were thrown to the wind that evening.

_I know this man my friends, his name's Inspector Javert! So don't believe a word he says 'cause none of it's true._

At first, all he reacted out of was anger. But would he not have done the same thing, if the situations had been reversed? If his loyalty was to his friends instead of to the law? Now it's too late to apologize.

_This only goes to show what little people can do._

_And little people know, when little people fight._

But did this little person know when to retreat? To fall back?

_We may look easy pickings, but we've got some bite!_

This little person had been an easy picking. One little bullet had snuffed the light out of him.

_So never kick a dog, because he's just a pup! We fight like twenty armies and we don't give up!_

This pup had not given up, and had fought to the last. He may have been with he wrong cause, but he was brave. Suddenly, Javert realizes that although it may be too late to apologize, there is something he can do. Slowly, he unpins his medal from his uniform and reverently pin's it onto the boy's clothes. In the rain, nobody notices the tear fall down the inspector's cheek.

_So you better run for cover when the pup grows up!_

Thanks to the men Javert worked with, spied for, this was a pup that would never grow up.

* * *

_And must I now begin to doubt? _

_Who never doubted, all these years?_

But now he doubts. He doubts the justice of a world that would let a young boy die. And his world is falling apart, because justice was all he had stood for.

_My heart is stone, and still it trembles_

_The world I have known is lost in shadows…_


	2. Soyez forts et levez-vous avec moi!

_Soyez forts et levez-vous avec moi!_

A shot rang out. Combeferre tensed, knowing another one of his dying friends would soon be brought to him.

Combeferre had started medical school to save lives, not to room with Enjolras, the leader of the Les Amis and the revolution. Despite himself, he had been drawn into Enjolras' talk of a better France. A free France. And now, inexplicably, the young medical student was in Paris, fighting to save the faces of the revolution.

He looked up. Grantaire was carrying Courfeyrac in, the latter stumbling and bleeding from a wound in his side.

"Courfeyrac!" Combeferre shouted, rushing to his friend's side.

Grantaire rushed back out to the battle, loading his rifle as he went.

"'Ferre…" Courfeyrac gasped.

"Don't talk, Courfeyrac," Combeferre said firmly, pressing his hands to his friend's side to try and staunch the flow of blood. "Save your strength."

It was too late. With Courfeyrac dead, Grantaire, Feuilly, Enjolras, and Marius were the only ones left. And the volunteer… Valjean? Combeferre would have to fight.

Combeferre rushed out just in time to see Feuilly collapse. Just in time to receive a bullet to his heart.

A/N: I don't speak French; I take Spanish. However, according to somebody who _does_ know French, the title says "Be strong and stand with me"


	3. Be careful as you go

"Enjolras, we're running low on ammunition!" Courfeyac shouted.

"Continue fighting," Enjolras shouted back over the gunfire, after a moment's hesitation. "When we can spare a man, whoever is willing can collect it from the fallen."

_They laugh at me, these fellas, jus' because I am small._

Gavroche suddenly had an idea.

_They laugh at me because I'm not a hundred feet tall!_

Nobody would laugh at him if he could collect the ammunition.

_I tell them there's a lot to learn down here on the ground. The world is big but little people turn it around!_

He might not be able to change the world, but he could change the outcome of this battle.

_A worm can roll a stone._

One step.

_A bee can sting a bear._

Another.

_A fly can fly around Versailles 'cause flies don't care! _

And another towards the edge of the barricade.

_A sparrow in a hat can build a happy home!_

He could make France a happy home for the other gamins.

_A flea can bite the bottom of the Pope in Rome!_

If a flea could bite the Pope, he could make a difference.

_Goliath was a bruiser who was tall as the sky._

The National Guard was big.

_But David threw a rock and hit him right in the eye!_

But he could make a difference.

_I never read the Bible, but I know that it's true- this only goes to show what little people can do!_

Gavroche put his hands on the barricade, still unnoticed by the Les Amis.

_A worm can move a stone, a bee can sting a bear!_

He hoisted himself up.

_A fly can fly around Versailles 'cause flies don't care!_

He found a foothold and started to climb.

_A sparrow in a hat can make a happy home; a flea can bite the bottom of the Pope in Rome!_

Higher.

_So listen you professor with your head in the clouds: it's often mighty useful to get lost in the crowds._

Instead of blending in and getting lost in the crowds, the gamin felt Courfeyac's eyes on him.

_So take your universities; I don't give a damn! _

The rich could take their universities. His school was the slums. It made him himself.

_For better or for worse it's just the way that I am!_

It made him Gavroche. He was almost at the top of the barricade.

_Be careful as you go…. _

"Gavroche!" Courfeyac shouted, begging _him_ to be careful, to get down.

_'Cause little people grow!"_

A bullet whizzed by his head.

"Get down!" Too late. The next bullet hit its mark.

"Ah!" Gavroche cried, gritting his feet against the pain.

"Gavroche! No!" He must be going mad- _Enjolras_ actually sounded _afraid._

"Cause little people know… when little people fight… we may look easy… pickings but we've got… some bite! So never…. Kick a dog! Ah!" He staggered back as another bullet hit, mocking his words. But the _Amis_ needed the ammunition.

"….Because he's just… a pup! We fight… like…. Twenty armies…. And we don't… give… up!" He started back towards the barricade, ammunition in hand. Another bullet hit his back. He wouldn't make it. He drew in a breath, and threw the ammunition over the barricade.

"So you better…. Run for cover… when… the… pup..." He drew in a breath, and his last word was barely a whisper.

"Grows-" The last bullet made sure he would never grow up. Gavroche was dead.

"GAVROCHE!"

"….up!" Enjolras finished in a whisper, a single tear falling down the supposedly emotionless man's face.


End file.
